The Knoxville Ice Bears are a professional ice hockey team. The team competes in the

Southern Professional Hockey League The Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) is a professional ice hockey independent minor league based in Huntersville, North Carolina, with teams located primarily in the southeastern United States as well as Illinois and Indiana in the midwe ...

. They play their home games at the

Knoxville Civic Coliseum General James White Memorial Civic Auditorium and Coliseum (usually shortened to Knoxville Civic Coliseum) is a multi-purpose events facility in Knoxville, Tennessee, owned by the Knoxville city government and managed by SMG. Its components are ...

in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Ice Bears have made the playoffs in every season of their existence. In 2006, the Ice Bears defeated the

Florida Seals The Florida Seals were a minor league ice hockey franchise, a member of the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL). Originally based in Orlando, Florida, as the Orlando Seals, they later moved to Kissimmee, Florida, a suburb thirty miles sout ...

to take their first

President's Cup The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world minus Europe. Europe competes against the United States in a similar but considerably ...

. The Ice Bears won back to back President's Cup Championships in the 2007–08 and 2008–09 seasons. On April 18, 2015, the Ice Bears defeated the

Mississippi RiverKings The Mississippi RiverKings were a professional minor league ice hockey team. The RiverKings were a member of the Southern Professional Hockey League from 2011 to 2018 after playing their first nineteen seasons (1992–2011) in the Central Hock ...

4–2 to sweep the 2015 SPHL Finals and win their 4th President's Cup.

History

The Knoxville Ice Bears were founded in 2002 as a charter member of the

Atlantic Coast Hockey League The Atlantic Coast Hockey League (ACHL) was a minor league hockey organization that operated between 1981 and 1987. The league was founded by Bill Coffey. The Bob Payne Trophy was awarded to the team who won the league playoff championship. Acc ...

. After finishing as runner-up to the

Orlando Seals Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...

in the 2002–03 season, the Ice Bears moved to the new

South East Hockey League South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

. Again, they finished as a runner-up in the playoffs to the

Huntsville Channel Cats The Huntsville Channel Cats was a professional ice hockey team based in Huntsville, Alabama. The franchise was a member of several different leagues, the Southern Hockey League (1995-1996), Southern Hockey League (1995–1996), the Central Hock ...

for 2003–04. In 2004, the team again changed hockey leagues and joined the new

. In the SPHL's first season, the Ice Bears won the regular season championship Commissioner's Cup, but lost in the second round of the playoffs (after a first round bye) to the eventual champions, the

Columbus Cottonmouths The Columbus Cottonmouths were a professional ice hockey team based in Columbus, Georgia. The team is nicknamed the Snakes and played their home games at the Columbus Civic Center. In 2017, the team suspended operations after failing to find a new ...

. In 2005–06, the Ice Bears secured the Commissioner's Cup and the

by beating the

in game four of a best-of-five series. In 2006–07, the team was eliminated in the league semifinals with two straight losses to the Fayetteville FireAntz. In 2007–08, the Ice Bears once again secured the Commissioner's Cup, now renamed the William B. Coffey Trophy. In the 2008 President's Cup playoffs, the Ice Bears won again. Rookie goalie Kirk Irving took home playoff MVP honors. The President Cup title was the Ice Bears' second in three years. In 2008–09, the Ice Bears again won the William B. Coffey Trophy. The Ice Bears also won their second straight President's Cup. On May 29, 2009, it was announced that head coach Scott Hillman had resigned to be the first coach of the

Central Hockey League The Central Hockey League (CHL) was a North American mid-level minor professional ice hockey league which operated from 1992 until 2014. It was founded by Ray Miron and Bill Levins and later sold to Global Entertainment Corporation, which oper ...

's expansion team in Independence, Missouri. Marc Rodgers took over in June 2009 after Hillman's departure. On March 27, 2010, a

line brawl Fighting is an established tradition in North American ice hockey, with a long history that involves many levels of amateur and professional play and includes some notable individual fights. Fights may be fought by enforcers, or "goons" ()� ...

erupted between the Ice Bears and rival Fayetteville FireAntz. A total of 19 players were ejected. In the third period with the Ice Bears winning 5–3, few players remained. The Ice Bears then took a 9–4 lead. The game was declared a forfeit at 10:45 of the third period, as the FireAntz had two skaters remaining after several FireAntz players intentionally drew penalties so their team would not have enough players remaining to play the rest of the game. There were a total of 26 games in suspensions handed out between all the ejected players. In the 2009–10 season, the Ice Bears finished fourth out of seven teams. They went to the playoffs to face the FireAntz in a best-of-three series in the first round. The Ice Bears' back-to-back regular season and league championship run came to an end on April 9, 2010, when they were defeated 3–1 in game two by the eventual playoff champions, the

Huntsville Havoc The Huntsville Havoc are a professional ice hockey team in the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL). They play their home games at the Von Braun Center in downtown Huntsville, Alabama. History The team began play in the 2004–05 season, ...

. After the 2009–10 season, Ice Bears' star and SPHL all-time leading scorer Kevin Swider retired. On July 12, 2010, Swider was named Ice Bears' director of hockey operations and youth hockey school director. Swider won every scoring title from 2004 to 2010, all six years of the SPHL's existence to that point. Swider came out of retirement in the summer of 2011. The SPHL renamed the league leader in scoring trophy after Swider in 2015. In 2017, Swider was inducted into the Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame for his repeated scoring titles in the SPHL. On June 29, 2010, head coach Marc Rodgers and the Ice Bears parted ways. It was not clear if Rodgers was fired or resigned. On August 2, 2010, the Ice Bears introduced Mike Craigen as the new head coach. Craigen, a Buckhorn, Ontario, Canada native was a former Ice Bears player from 2004 to 2008. He was a part of Knoxville's 2006 and 2008 President's Cup Championship teams. The 2010–11 season saw the Ice Bears finish sixth out of eight teams. On October 9, 2012, the team announced that they had partnered with the NHL's Nashville Predators to host a preseason game against Huntsville, at

Bridgestone Arena Bridgestone Arena (originally Nashville Arena, and formerly Gaylord Entertainment Center and Sommet Center) is a multi-purpose venue in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Completed in 1996, it is the home of the Nashville Predators of ...

, the Predators home ice, on October 20. The event was free to all Ice Bears season ticket holders. On April 18, 2015, the Ice Bears won their fourth Presidents Cup, ending a six-year drought. Ice Bears' goalie Bryan Hince took home the SPHL Playoffs MVP Award after winning his last five starts in the playoffs and allowing less than two goals per game. On May 15, 2017, the team opted to not renew coach Mike Craigen's contract. The Ice Bears then announced Jeff Carr as their new head coach in June.

General manager history

Tommy Benizio
2002–2003
Preston Dixon
2003–2006 * Mike Murray : 2006–present

Coaching history

Tony Martino
2002–2003
Jim Bermingham
2003–2007
Scott Hillman
2007–2009
Marc Rodgers
2009–2010
Mike Craigen
2010–2017
Jeff Carr
2017–present

Captain history

Steve Zoryk
2002–2003
Craig Desjarlais
2003–2004
Todd MacIsaac
2004–2005
Doug Searle
2005–2006
Kevin Swider
2006–2010
Mike Bulawka
2010–2011
Kevin Swider
2011–2012
Mark Van Vliet
(co-captain) 2013–2014
David Segal
(co-captain) 2013–2015
Jason Price
2015–2017
Jake Flegel
2017
Evan Neugold
2017–2018
Lucas Bombardier
2018–2020

Championships

The Knoxville Ice Bears have won five William B. Coffey Trophies as the regular season champions and four

championships as the playoff champions.

Notable former Ice Bears

*Kyle Bochek -

Bloomington Blaze The Bloomington Thunder were a minor professional ice hockey team that was a member of the Southern Professional Hockey League. Based in Bloomington, Illinois, the Thunder played their home games at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum, located in downtow ...

( CHL) *Derek Foam - South Carolina Stingrays (

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The ...

) *Bryan Hince -

San Francisco Bulls The San Francisco Bulls were a professional minor ice hockey team of the ECHL located in Daly City, California, serving the San Francisco Bay Area market. They were an affiliate to the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League and the Worces ...

(

) *

Scott Holtzman Scott Holtzman (born September 30, 1983) is an American former mixed martial artist Who most recently competed in the lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. A professional from 2012 to 2022, he formerly competed for the Xtr ...

- Ultimate Fighting Championship

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing. Notable lightweight boxe ...

mixed martial artist *Jason LePine -

Iserlohn Roosters The Iserlohn Roosters are a professional ice hockey team based in Iserlohn, North Rhine-Westphalia. They are members of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) since 2000 and play their home games at the Eissporthalle Iserlohn which is also known as ' ...

(

DEL Del, or nabla, is an operator used in mathematics (particularly in vector calculus) as a vector differential operator, usually represented by the nabla symbol ∇. When applied to a function defined on a one-dimensional domain, it denotes t ...

) * Ervins Mustukovs -

Sheffield Steelers The Sheffield Steelers are a professional ice hockey team located in Sheffield, England. They were formed in 1991 (see 1991 in sport) and play their home games at the Utilita Arena. They are currently a member of the Elite Ice Hockey League ...

(

EIHL The Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), sometimes referred to as the British Elite League or, for sponsorship reasons, the Viaplay Elite League, is an ice hockey league in the United Kingdom. Formed in 2003 following the demise of the Ice Hockey ...

) *Nick Niedert -

( CHL) *Mike Towns -

Idaho Steelheads The Idaho Steelheads are an American professional minor league ice hockey team based in Boise, Idaho, and a member of the ECHL. The Steelheads play in the Mountain Division of the ECHL's Western Conference since the 2016–17 season. In 1996, th ...

(

) *Jason Weeks -

Tulsa Oilers The Tulsa Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and play in the ECHL. The Oilers played their home games at the Tulsa Convention Center until 2008 when they moved into the new BOK Center. For many years, the Tuls ...

( CHL)

References

External links

Knoxville Ice BearsThe Southern Professional Hockey League website
{{TennesseeSports Southern Professional Hockey League teams Sports in Knoxville, Tennessee Ice hockey teams in Tennessee Ice hockey clubs established in 2002 Atlantic Coast Hockey League (2002–03) teams South East Hockey League teams 2002 establishments in Tennessee